Charles Lever

Born in Dublin on August 31, 1806, Charles Lever studied at Trinity College Dublin and qualified in medicine before making his name as a writer. Early in life he practiced as a doctor and reportedly worked during the cholera years, but his gift for storytelling soon carried him toward journalism and fiction.

Lever became one of the best-known Irish novelists of his day with serial fiction such as The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer and other spirited tales set in Ireland and across Europe. His books are remembered for their humor, restless adventure, and larger-than-life characters, often drawing on military life, travel, and the bustle of society.

Later in life he lived for long periods on the Continent and served in British consular posts, eventually becoming consul at Trieste, where he died on June 1, 1872. Though his reputation is quieter now than it was in his own century, he was widely admired for the sheer liveliness of his storytelling.